Caring Can Be A Sick Business
by PikaPlatinum
Summary: Skye is stricken by an illness and Shadow goes to collect her medication, but only after meeting his rival. Archie Au ShadowXOC


Shadow looked outside through Skye's window and he stared at the street below. It was covered in freezing snow and ice. The hedgehog couldn't understand why NICOLE decided to allow the drift of snow that had went over New Mobotropolis. She allowed it as she thought it would be nice in a change of weather. Shadow didn't like the decision, as he was already taking care of a bed ridden Skye, who never seemed to be awake or eating anything; but she was awake and lying in a blanket on her bed.

"I'm going to see that Doctor Quack for your medication, Skye." The hedgehog said over his shoulder as he began to walk out of her room, avoiding mounds of paper that she began to use for drawing.

"Wa-wait!" He heard a stuttering voice from behind him, turning his gaze, he saw the brown haired overlander out of her bed, her face pale and her cheeks red with fever. Shadow felt shocked to actually see her out of her bed without his help. He twirled around, nervous for her sake.

"What are you doing? Get back into your bed!" He shouted, trying to keep his normal serious tone. Skye stepped forward and gently wrapped something blue and soft around his non existent neck. He lifted the end to see a stitched "S" in the cloth.

"It's a scarf." She began quietly. "I might be the one that's unwell, but that doesn't I can't watch out for you too. I don't want the both of us being unwell." She gave a small smirk.

_She..she worries about me? I can't see any reason why she should. I have never been stuck with an ailment before, then why bother about worrying me? She can be very strange indeed, but I do not want to deny her request._

Shadow do not say anything until he sighed.

"Fine. I'll wear this for you." The black hedgehog muttered. "But, you have to stay in your bed until I return, alright?" Skye nodded before heading back to bed. Shadow closed her door after she went under her covers. He looked at the scarf again.

_Where did she get this from? I don't remember her getting this from somewhere._

He quickly stepped down the stairs and out the door to be greeted by a blast of cold. His fur suddenly stood up from the shock, but his fur flattened in an instant.

Shadow trudged through the thick snow, his feet disappearing into the freezing white. Thankfully, Professor Gerald had made his shoes water-proof. He heard small children giggling and playing in the snow. He never had a chance to get excited by the snow before he could share it with Maria. She always wanted to see the snow close up. Shadow came to a stop and thought about what would of happened if she was never shot. Gerald did admit that Maria was heading for a short life, thanks to her illness.

_Damn those GUN troops. Damn them._

He shook his head. He couldn't stop now. He had to get Skye's medication. The hedgehog took cold air and continued to stomp through the snow.

"Alright, so you say that she hasn't been eating?" A duck with a cane and a eye patch fumbled around with some medical equipment. "And that her left side hurts when she moves a certain way?" Shadow gave a small nod.

"That's true. She doesn't eat much when she is out of the house, but she does eat properly when she's in a comfortable area." He said to the doctor as he sat down in his chair.

"Does she have to go to the bathroom all of the time?" He asked, rubbing the top of his cane. Shadow silently shuffled on the spot he was standing. That was a private question, but he was simply asking the basics for her examination. Shadow gave a curt nod. He was correct. "Alright. It sounds like a kidney infection, but I can't give her a proper examination if she is stuck in her bed. She needs to be here instead, so if you could go and get her quickly, I might be able to examine her before I need to go see the king."

"No!" Shadow spat. "Skye can not leave the house right now! She can barely do the things she normally does, nevermind coming here!" The doctor didn't move or flinch.

"Well, how can she be examined? Can you examine her yourself, Shadow?" He snorted.

"I could. I am not an idiot, you quack!" The hedgehog snarled. Again, he didn't seem to be effected with Shadow's anger.

"Then, how could you do that? You can't simply learn to be a doctor in minutes." Doctor Quack sneered. "Or you could go from here to there in seconds as I say what to do." Shadow stared for several moments before smirking at him.

"I have the power of Chaos Control. I can warp from here to back home in an instant." The dark hedgehog said, the scarf around his neck slightly muffled his speech.

"Oh, that teleporting ability. I've heard of it from Sonic before when he checked up on Hope when those metal Sonic's were on the rampage." The duck looked up and down at the hedgehog. "Do you have a good memory, Shadow?"

Skye tossed and turned, her stomach empty and sore. She hadn't eaten since the morning before, which was only a small piece of bread. She felt horrible. She thought that she would handle being without food for a day, but now her stomach was clawing at itself, begging for food. Sadly, whenever she even dared to look at food, her tummy would do a flip and make her feel sick. So, now in her weakened state, she didn't have any energy to even draw and that was the one thing she would do, even if she was on her death bed, but it seems that this illness had took her strength to even lift her pencil.

"Atleast, Shadow is alright." She sighed, shifting in her bed again. "He's got my scarf on." She tried to keep her eyes open as they dropped, nearly forcing her to fall asleep. "But, he is the Ultimate Lifeform after all. I shouldn't be worrying about _him_ getting unwell." The girl thought for a moment. "Why do I worry about him all the time anyway? He's not some weak guy. I mean, I've seen him pick up Omega during a sparring match and that was after Hope told me that Omega was extremely heavy and that more than half of that was just ammo!" She sulked into her blankets, feeling comfort from them. "Shadow has so much more about him than I realize. He's so strong, but he's always gentle with me whenever he does something and I really should stop there." Skye felt her cheeks burn over her fever and then rubbed her face into her blankets.

Suddenly, there was a flash of cyan light. Skye lifted her head to see Shadow standing over her with his normal neutral stare. She gave a warm smile at him.

"Hey, Shadow. Did you get the medicine?" She rasped. He didn't reply instantly, instead he sat on the edge of her bed in silence. Skye didn't like this. It seemed natural for Shadow not to speak, but his silence gave her a small shiver of panic. Was something really bad happening to her that he didn't want to admit. She noticed that he didn't want to make eye contact. Something had to be troubling him. "Shadow, what's wrong?" She heard him lightly gulp as he turned to look at her.

"Since you can't leave your bed. He said he couldn't examine you unless you were there, so I was told that-" He stopped.

"Told what?" She felt nervous.

"That I could examine you instead and tell him what is wrong." Skye just stared at him.

"What?" She blankly asked.

"He told me to examine you in his place." Skye glared at him.

"What kind of examination?"

"I'll need to feel around your stomach and sides and he said I should also feel how tender your kidneys feel." The overlander felt the awkward sting in the air.

"Do I-" She felt herself blush over her fever again. "Do I have to lift up my shirt?" Shadow stared at her, not truely effected by her response. He couldn't understand how she looked so embarssesed.

"I believe so and we must be quick. The doctor said that he has an appointment with the king." Skye sat up, her cheeks still red with fever. The hedgehog put a hand on her forehead and his other hand on his own forehead. "Your fever has not went down too much." Shadow gently took hold of the bottom of her shirt, ready to lift it, but Skye pulled away with a squeak.

"L-let me do that!" She whimpered, pushing his large hand away. Slowly, but surely she lifted her shirt to just over the start of her ribs. "O-okay." Shadow's ear flicked as he touched her stomach and began to press down into her gut.

"Tell me when it hurts." He said, continuing his fast examination. Skye gave a curt nod. Her mind drifted to the scarf that she had given him.

_He was still wearing it! He didn't actually need to wear it when he was at Doctor Quack's office and examination room. She couldn't help but feel like she ment something to him. Come to think of it, he didn't even need to take care of her and yet here he was!_

She is struck with a sharp pain in her side, causing her thought train to be broken as Shadow pressed into it.

"There.." She groaned. Shadow pressed close by it and Skye made a small flicky type noise in response. The hedgehog had known the girl long enough to know that her making flicky noises was normal for her. He felt around the area of were her kidneys would be. He compared both and felt that her left was much more softer to press.

"It seems that he was right." He released her and he sighed. "You must have a kidney infection as he said."

"A kidney infection?" Skye rolled down her shirt. "Is that what I have? I thought I had a un-"

"Please, do not mention that ailment you thought you had." Shadow huffed, trying to prove his point.

"No worries, Shadow. I won't say it."

Doctor Quack collected a piece of paper and began to write on it.

"Now, you'll need to give her this twice a day until it is finished and make sure you give her two spoonfuls at a time aswell. Otherwise, it'll be quite a long time before she gets better." He handed the paper to Shadow, who was once again standing waiting with the scarf around his neck. The dark hedgehog took hold of the paper and looked at. It was scribbled with a name of a medication and what amount to be bottled. "You have to go to the chemist that is alittle walk from here and they'll give you the medicine." Shadow nodded, despite he does not know where this chemist building was. But, he didn't want to ask, his pride didn't want him too.

So, he walked out with not a clue where the chemist was. Looking around in the snow, all he could see was either children running around or houses. Shadow couldn't spot anything that looked like a chemist. Of course, he didn't even know what a chemist was or what it looked like. Shadow decided to atleast look around as Doctor Quack said that it was a small walk away.

Shadow wandered with paper in hand. The snow clumping together on the fur on his lower legs, slowing his steps as he continued. He was suprised on how cold it had gotten and how the youngesters were not effected by it as older mobians were wrapped up in thick clothing. He couldn't bother with the freezing cold as his breath came out as bellows of mist. He had an important task to do and that was to collect Skye's medicine.

Going in several paths and directions, Shadow started to become lost. His memory didn't seem to know where the chemist was. He felt like he was going in circles as he kept on going. Snow had began to fall heavily as he went. He noticed at the corner of his eye, a blue blur sped through the snow. He didn't like that. This sudden blur of colour went past him, but then skidded to a halt close by.

"Hey, Shadow!" It shouted over the whizzing of the wind. "Shadow!" The Ultimate Lifeform knew what would happen if this hyperactive colour was to come in contact with him, but it was too late. The blue mobian ran forward and slid on the snow infront of him.

The mobian smiled widely at him, his blue quills turning white with the powder that was snow. He wore his normal attire of red sneakers with a white strap and a pair of white gloves, but he also was wearing cyan tinted googles and a deep red scarf, both covered in snow, melted and frozen.

"Whatcha doin'?" He asked. Shadow crossed his arms at the newcomer.

"It is not of your interest, Sonic." He snorted. Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" The blue speedster's smile didn't go away. He wasn't going to leave without some real answer. "You are walking around lost for the past half hour, Shadow. I think you're trying to go somewhere." His green eyes spotted the piece of paper in his rival's hand. "What's that?"

"I said, it is not of your interest." Shadow was getting annoyed. This hedgehog never seemed to give him a break whenever he was around. "Now, would you leave me in peace?" Sonic placed his hands on his slim hips.

"What are you looking for anyway? Is it for something important? It has to be if you are being so protective over a little bit of paper." The blue hedgehog was right. He was looking for something important. "Wait, let me see it for myself." Sonic took the small piece of paper from the older hedgehog's gloved hand.

"Wait!" That was all Shadow could stutter out as Sonic sped read the writing on the paper.

"This looks like a medicine prescription from Doctor Quack's office." Sonic questionly looked at Shadow and back to the paper. "You don't look like you're sick. Unless you can really hide it." Shadow snatched the paper out from Sonic's hands.

"I can not be brought down by sickness, blue hedgehog! It is Skye that is the one that is sick!"

_Oh no! I just bluttered it out! I do not mean too!_

Sonic blankly stared at him before grinning from ear to ear with a sly look on his face.

"Oh! I see. You're getting Skye medicine! That's adorable, Faker!" He began to laugh out loud, snow still falling at a very fast rate.

"You better be of some use, blue hedgehog!" Shadow snarled, his red eyes piercing through the solid white snow and right at Sonic.

"Like what?" Sonic gasped for air, still laughing.

"Like you could point me in the direction of this chemist?" Sonic took off his googles and wiped his eyes from tears.

"That's what you're looking for!" He happily said. "I should of known." He turned on his heel to face another way. "I'll show you the way, but you have to keep up." Instantly, Sonic ran forward. Shadow flinched at the sudden blast of snow into his face. He growled lightly and he followed.

Shadow easily caught up with the blue hedgehog, who was running while trying to not slip on ice while Shadow was simply skating over the snow. Sonic turned several times until they were infront of a square building with a red cross, most of it covered in snow.

"Here we are! The New Mobotropolis Pharmacy!" Sonic proudly exclaimed. Shadow glanced up at the mostly hidden sign.

"Hmph." He huffed as he stomped in, the smell of medicine gave the hedgehog memories from the distant past. He remembered the scent of the many chemicals from the labs, the silence that made you seem deaf and the very strong smell of medicine since Maria was always ill and Professor Gerald never took any chances with her. She never seemed to be out of that area on the ARK. She was also very weak, so Shadow had to be there to help her at any time.

"Hey, Shadow, aren't you going to go up to the counter?" Sonic had managed to jolt him from his thoughts. He looked at his blue counterpart with sneer growl.

"Shut it, hedgehog!" Shadow glanced at his new surrondings. It did remind him of the ARK in is own little way, including the smell of many medicines. He slowly walked over to the counter. A dusty brown rodent; most likey a mouse, stepped up to him.

"Hello, sir." She said. Shadow did not know what to say. He was not used to talking to unknown people, so he stayed silent. "..Sir?" She asked, a confused look on her face. Sonic walked up to them, letting out a sigh.

"Hello, we are here to get a prescription for a friend." He said smoothly as he leaned onto the clean counter.

"Oh, hello, Sonic." The mouse smiled. "And what would this prescription be?" Shadow felt an elbow jab him slightly. He quietly brought out the piece of paper and put it onto the counter. The mouse picked it up and read it.

"Alright, can the two of you wait until you are called."

The two hedgehogs wandered to two chairs that were empty. Shadow turned to watch the working chemists, waiting. Sonic, on the other hand had sat down and began whistling a tune to himself. Several minutes passed as other waiting mobians had got their medication and left, sending in cold air everything the door opened until the mouse returned to the counter with a small white bag.

"Sonic and his friend?" She said aloud. Shadow felt something in him slightly snap. He did not want to be called Sonic's friend. He may have his respect, but only for the most part. Either way, he walked over without a word and took the medicine. Sonic jumped out of his seat and gave a small wave to the mouse as he left along with Shadow.

"I do not require your help now, Sonic, so you can go back to your own buisness." The black hedgehog muttered, his attention now on the paper bag.

_Kidney Antibiotic Medication._

It said on it's label. It also said Skye's full name and how to take it. Two times a day. Same as what Doctor Quack had told him.

"So, are you going home to your sick girlfriend now?" Sonic smirked, his eyes gleaming. Shadow growled at him, but he did not seem to care about how angry his black and red rival was getting. "You know, the one that you're caring for, even though you can as cold as this snow." Shadow felt like murdering the blue hedgehog right there, but he could help but feel that Sonic was right. He was rather the cold mobian and he was caring for her. He had not even thought of doing this for anyone else.

"Don't call her my girlfriend. I do not require a female companion at the moment, hedgehog." Shadow swiftly pushed the thoughts away. He was good at tossing warm feelings away like pieces of rubbish, but it seemed that one certain person had managed to tunnel her way into his mind so deep that he was not able to discard her feelings for him.

_Skye._

She had admitted that she loved him not long before she had fallen ill, the way she decided to show her feelings was through a very deep kiss. He gently declined her feelings, sadly she had started to avoid him by any means possible. Even if he tried to talk to her, she would either shy away or ignore him by doing what she was doing beforehand. Thankfully, she seemed to forgot her shyness for him when she started to feel sick. The hedgehog did not want to leave her alone for long as he thought something bad would happen to her when she was not under his supervision.

_Wait. _

How long was Shadow away for? It was well over an hour now. He felt his eyes widen as he reminded himself that she was all alone in her bed, waiting for him to give her the medication for her to get better.

"I must go now, Sonic. This medication is not going to get to Skye by itself." He said, his voice in the norm of between stern and straight forward. Shadow glanced around, the snow whizzing at his face. He could recognize the street. He wasn't far from the house as he thought he was.

"Shadow?" Sonic had the most confused look on his face. "Are you feeling alright? Maybe, you are getting sick yourself."

"But, I must thank you aswell." Sonic looked ever more confused.

"You wha?"

"If it was not for you, I would be still lost and looking for the pharmacy." The dark hedgehog twirled on his heel and just as he geared up his legs, he stopped. "Oh, I can safely say that your debt is paid." He then quickly hovered over the snow and sleet, leaving a still confused Sonic behind.

The sky had turned a dark shade of dull grey by the time Shadow had returned home. The snow finally stopped, the leftover snow had managed to cling onto this pitch black coat, now it started to melt, thanks to his body heat. The door was locked. It was always locked, but he did not need a key. He would simply used Chaos Control to get into the house, which he did in a blue flash of light. Quickly, he raced up the stairs up to Skye's room. The hedgehog saw that there was light leaking from the other side of her door.

Slowly, he opened it, being careful not to make any loud or sudden noises, but as he entered, Skye looked up at him with a warm grin on her face.

"Shadow!" Her voice was rough with illness. It sounded like her germs had started making their way into her chest, but this was a simple guess. "Why did you take so long?" Shadow could not help, but feel guilty. It was his fault that he did not know how to get to the Pharmacy. His pride could not allow him to admit this, the look of joy on her face from just him coming back gave him a very uncharacteristic skip of a heart. He just had to tell her the truth.

"I ended up getting lost." Shadow rubbed the back of his head through his quills, embarssed with himself. "I ended up getting help from that blue hedgehog, Sonic."

"Sonic?" Her eyes widened in suprised. "You got help from Sonic? That does not sound like you at all. I thought your pride would take over, especially when it is Sonic!" She lightly laughed, but she ended it with a very chesty cough. Shadow glared at her as she laughed, but when she began to cough, his heart lurched.

"Are you alright?" The hedgehog's iris' shrank as he sped walked over to her bed side.

"I knew I was getting a cold. I felt it coming." Her normal voice and attitude returned for the moment. She spotted the white bag in his hand. "Is that the medicine?"

"Yes, it's to be taken twice a day until it is finished." He opened the crinkled paper bag and pulled out a box which contained the medication and a small spoon. "Now, how do you take this medication?"

"Oh, you have to pour it into the spoon, but I can do it myself if you don't want to do it." Skye leaned over to her bed table to pick up her glass of clear cream soda.

"No, no. I can do it, you can just hold your drink." He decided to sit on her bed, his feet swinged, the floor alittle under his shoes. Opening up the box, he plucked both the bottle and the plastic spoon out. Skye looked at them with disgust. She must of had personal experience with some bitter tasting medicine in the past. He then realised why she had her drink. "You're using the drink to wash this medication down?" The girl shook her head gently, making sure that she was not to make herself woozy.

"Not really. It's actually because of how medicine tend of have that, you know mediciney taste." She screwed up her face as she recalled the taste.

"Medicine-y? I highly doubt that's what you call that taste or what you call anything for that matter." He chuckled. She had the tendency to make up words such as "mediciney".

"You shush." Skye playfully bumped the hedgehog on the arm. "We better get this over with." Shadow only gave a slight nod and tried to open the bottle, only for it to click. Again and again, he tried, but all he got was a click noise everytime it should of opened.

"What is wrong with this bottle lid? Is it damaged?" He asked himself, amazed that even with his own strength, he could not open Skye's medication. He heard a raspy giggle from beside him.

"Give me that." Skye snorted as she took it out of his hands.

"Skye, if I can not open such a device, then how in your weakened state can you manage to open it?"

_Click._

Shadow's ear perked up at the noise. He wasn't suprised as he heard the overlander curse under her breath. When she continued, the hedgehog looked down at the box, but when he was about to start reading, Skye let out a small cheer.

"I got it!" Shadow sharply turned his head and saw the opened bottle, it filled with a thick white fluid that reeked of medication. "It looks like the same normal doctor prescription. Yuck." She brought the bottle up to her nose and carefully sniffed it. "Hey, it smells like yogurt." A grin crept onto her pale face. "This is rare. Medicine never tastes nice and a good giveaway is the smell of it."

"I can not scent yogurt. I can only smell medicine and nothing else." Shadow admitted coldly.

"Huh. Guess your sense of smell is so strong, it can't get a whiff of the yogurt." She smirked, returning the bottle to him. The dark hedgehog held up the spoon and poured some of the liquid into it.

"Alright, here." Skye easily took it into her mouth, but within a matter of seconds, her face changed from happy to sheer disgust. She harshly swallowed it and gagged slightly.

"Agh! It's got bits of tablet in it!" Skye instantly took a drink of her cream soda in an attempt to wash down the horrible taste of medicine. "That was disgusting! And I can't believe I have to take it twice a day too!" She saw Shadow pour another spoonful of the medicine. "What are you doing?"

"The doctor said to give you it twice a day, but to give you it twice everytime you take it." Skye looked at him in disbelief.

"You're joking, right?" She squinted her eyes at him, annoyed with him.

"No, now have your next spoonful." When he put the spoon close to her mouth, the girl's head back up, trying to stay away from the white gunk. "If you can drink down one spoonful, I think you can swallow another."

"It's a trap!" She huffed, her sweet drink at the ready. Shadow almost felt like he was going to force her to take her medicine, but she willing accepted it with her face screwed up once again.

"Now, I think you better go to sleep and let the medicine work." Shadow stood up from his warm seat that was her bed, took off the scarf that was still wrapped around his neck and placed it on her bed side table.

"Did it work?"

"What?" He looked at the ill overlander, her eyes filled with hope.

"Did the scarf work for you? Because you could of just took it off for something." She mumbled on the last few words. He could easily see that she was embaressed on the subject. He had worn it all day and never had took it off until now.

"It kept my neck warm if that is the function of a scarf." He spotted a shy smile on her face. She always changed into this new shy and quiet thing whenever he started to praise her. Of course, it could be because of her love for him. He did say not feel the same way, but it did not mean that he cared about her. "And as I just said, you should go to sleep." Skye glanced up at her clock.

"It's only alittle past seven." She sniffed. "I can't go to sleep now. It's way too early to sleep." Shadow sighed. Skye never really managed to fall asleep until around eleven o'clock even if she was sick. "Do you want to talk?" The hedgehog was silent as he sat back down. He was not needed back at Headquarters, so he had nothing to do, plus he not had a talk with her ever since she had confessed to him.

"Well, what would you want to talk about?" Skye thought for a moment.

"I guess, you know everything about me, can I know something about you?" Shadow froze. He had never wanted someone else to know about his past as he thought he would end up reliving it, but he felt that he could trust her with such important infomation. She was in love with him, so their was a very slim chance that she would betray him or even she would never think about it.

"I'll tell you." He deeply sighed again. "Everything."

As Shadow finished, he spotted tears had welled up in her eyes.

"What is wrong?" He asked, concerned that he had disturbed her with the telling of his past.

"I'm so sorry." She bluttered out, her tears starting falling down her face. "T-that your past is so horrible!" Skye then clung onto him, still sobbing.

"You weren't even born when it happened, Skye. I know you can not help it." The hedgehog patted her on the back. "You do not need to cry for me."

"But, I can't help it, Shadow." The overlander coughed. "I feel so sorry for you."

She is crying for me.

She is crying for my past. Love must be as powerful as people have said. Out of all the people that knew of his past, none had ever told him how sorry they felt for him or cry for him. He knew that she would never betray him now. Not ever.

He returned the embrace, happy that she would shed tears for him. He felt her freeze in shock, but she ended up rubbing her face into his fur. He felt her hair rub against his face, but he did not mind. The two sat there for several minutes, until Shadow let her go. He looked up at the clock.

Ten o'clock. That was good enough.

"Thank you, Shadow." Skye whimpered with a sad smile.

"What for?"

"For telling me all of that. You must really trust me." She knew. She knew that he trusted her to a full. She was one of those people that could not fully understand or read other peoples emotions or thoughts. Though, she did have some moments.

"I do." He stood up and helped her to be comfortable in her covers. The ill teenager nuzzled into her blankets. He smiled at this before turning off the lamp and walked over to the door that lead to staircase. He heard a small muffled sigh come from his housemate.

"I love you, Shadow."

The hedgehog closed the door. He put his hand to his face as tears threatened to come out. He had chosen not to be with her, but why did he feel so horrible? He knew that he had broken her heart and caused a deep anger within her. Yet, she still loved him. He allowed one small tear to fall down his muzzle.

How can I not admit that through my pride and anger, I care for her more than anything else I have ever cared for? She has more courage than I have.

Shadow gulpped down hard and he looked at Skye's door behind him.

"Why can I not tell you just how much you mean to me?" Slowly, but surely he made his way down the stairs to wait for the sun to return and hopefully take away the snow.


End file.
